After praying for the majority of a year that God would cause the Oasis student ministry to take root, He brought along several families with hearts that burned and yearned for Jesus and His church. Since then, we have seen students step up to the proverbial leadership plate and several come to know Jesus for the first time. These students come together every Wednesday at what has become known as “The Basement.” We bear with pride the notion that we have never met in a venue that was above ground, but continue to pray for a place that will enlarge our capacity to do what we do with excellence and in greater multitudes. If you’re going to turn the world upside town, you might as well start somewhere deep.
In August, Lindsi and I moved from Lynchburg to a house on a farm in Monroe. This location is right in the middle of our mission field and maintains a reasonable commute to our jobs in Lynchburg. We added Charlotte to our family. She’s a boxer puppy that was born in mid-July and adds an entire dimension of life to the house. There is no word of a human addition, but that is not to say that it won’t be used to entice potential grandparents to move closer to their potential grandchildren.
I want to tell you one of my favorite stories from 2010 before I sign off. It was another exciting night at The Basement and the band had just finished playing John Mark McMillan’s “How He Loves Us.” I was walking up to the front to teach when Chris blurted out, “You don’t have to preach tonight; I think they just did.” Chris was an atheist Goth we had been praying for and living life with for nearly a year. I asked him what he understood the song to say. He responded with a tone of conviction, “That God loves us.” A few moments went by and he continued, “I’m ready to get saved.” It took several seconds for us to pick up our bottom jaws from the ground and fight back tears. Students broke into applause and the band played a few more songs in celebration. We decided to end the night by celebrating at Mariachi’s, the local Mexican food restaurant. The Chris I rode home with that night was a different person. I probed to make sure he understood the decision he was making. There was no doubt that he had come to grips with what God had done for him.
We continue to walk the journey of sanctification (the process God uses to set us apart for and to Him) with Chris and several others like him. Pray with us that God would continue to multiply Christ followers like Chris and bring more people like the old Chris with whom we can share our lives.
